Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 release date confirmed for Summer 2022 on Crunchyroll [Trailer]

Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 artwork
Romance and retribution will be at the heart of the ongoing story on The Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 sequel. The focus will definitely involve romance if the studio sticks to the plot provided by the light novel series. Pic credit: Shunsaku Tomose

The Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 release date is confirmed for July 4, 2022, the Summer 2022 anime season.

YouZitsu Season 2 will have a total of 13 episodes released as four Blu-Ray/DVD volumes. Volume 1 comes out on October 26, 2022, Volume 2 on November 25, 2022, Volume 3 on December 23, 2022, and Volume 4 on January 25, 2023.

The new Classroom of the Elite II characters include Miyabi Nagumo (CV: Soma Saito) and Hiyori Shiina (CV: Rie Takahashi).

On April 16, 2022, Crunchyroll confirmed during a Sakura Con event that it will be streaming the Classroom of the Elite Season 2.

Classroom of the Elite Season 2 trailer 2 was released on June 27, 2022.

The Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Season 2 anime TV sequel was confirmed to be in production on February 21, 2022. On May 30, 2022, the exact YouZitsu Season 2 release date was announced by a new key visual.

The crazy part is that the Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 trailer also confirmed that the Classroom Of The Elite Season 3 release date will be in 2023! Yep, the COTE anime is pulling a The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 3.

“To all the fans of Classroom of the Elite in the world, thank you for your patience. A sequel to Classroom of the Elite TV anime is in the works! The time has finally come to announce it!” stated Suzu Sakuragaoka, a promotion assistant.

The trailer for the Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 anime project was presented during a Kadokawa Anime Channel presentation on March 6, 2022.

Japanese voice actors Shouya Chiba (who plays Kiyotaka Ayanokouji) and Yurika Kubo (who plays Kikyou Kushida) attended the Kadokawa event, so they are confirmed to be reprising their roles in the anime sequel.

Key visual for Classroom of the Elite Season 2
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Kakeru Ryuen in Classroom of the Elite Season 2. Pic credit: Studio Lerche

Despite the controversy surrounding how the first season adapted the source material, the announcement specifically lists the anime production as a TV sequel, not a Classroom Of The Elite reboot or remake.

More importantly, the cast confirmed during the presentation that the anime will adapt the entire First Year story arc of the light novel book series!

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Season 2
The Classroom of the Elite Season 2 TV sequel announcement was celebrated by light novel illustrator Shunsaku Tomose with this art. Pic credit: Shunsaku Tomose

The Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 release date will make many anime fans happy simply because the TV show will finally answer some of the questions left unanswered in the first season.

The season finale may have ended with a big win for Class 1-D and Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, but the anime still has not revealed why the main character desires to reach Class A at the Advanced Nurturing High School. Thankfully, anime-fans can look to spoilers for the light novel series to read what happens next.

The studio and main staff making the Classroom Of The Elite anime sequel were announced on March 6, 2022

The second season will be animated by returning Studio Lerche, which in recent times is best known for producing the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun anime, Radiant anime (see our Radiant Season 3 anime story), the Astra Lost In Space anime, and the Asobi Asobase anime. In recent times, they also produced Rumble Garanndoll, Idoly Pride, and the Fate/Grand Carnival anime.

COTE Season 2
The second Classroom of the Elite Season 2 key visual from mid-April 2022 shows off all the other classmates. Pic credit: Studio Lerche

Season 1 directors Seiji Kishi and Iroyuki Hashimoto are returning as chief directors. In addition, there will be a new director Yoshihito Nishouji.

Writer Hayato Kazano (Killing Bites) is returning to handle the series scripts after doing the episode scripts for the first season. Character designer Kazuaki Morita and composer Ryou Takahashi are also returning. The composer will be joined by Kana Hashiguchi.

For the first season, the Classroom Of The Elite OP “Caste Room” was performed by ZAQ, while the ED “Beautiful Soldier” was performed by Minami.

The Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 OP (opening) will be performed by singer ZAQ, while the ED (ending) “Human Theater” will be performed by Mai Fuchigami. The title for the OP theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.

The COTE Season 2 ED single will be released on July 27, 2022.

The first season of the Classroom Of The Elite anime TV series was streaming on Crunchyroll and FUNimation back in Summer 2017. The finale, Classroom Of The Elite Season 1 Episode 12, was released on September 27, 2017.

  • Updated June 28, 2022: Added new trailer and key visual.
  • Updated June 24, 2022: Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 Episode 13 is confirmed to be the finale by BD/DVD info.
  • Updated May 30, 2022: Exact Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 release date is confirmed for July 4th.
  • Updated May 10, 2022: Added Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 ED song title and release date.
  • Updated April 18, 2022: Added new key visual.
  • Updated April 16, 2022: Added Crunchyroll Classroom of the Elite Season 2 trailer.
  • Updated March 6, 2022: Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 release date confirmed for July 2022!

This article provides everything that is known about Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 (Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Season 2 / You-Zitsu Season 2 / Youkoso Jitsuryoku Season 2) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.

Crunchyroll’s Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 English dub release date

Funimation was streaming the Classroom Of The Elite English dub episodes back on June 29, 2017. Here is the Classroom Of The Elite dub cast:

  • Justin Briner as Kiyotaka Ayanokoji
  • Felecia Angelle as Suzune Horikita
  • Sarah Wiedenheft as Kikyo Kushida
  • David Matranga as Manabu Horikita
  • Brandon McInnis as Ken Sudo
  • Travis Mullenix as Haruki Yamauchi
  • Aaron Dismuke as Kanji Ike
  • Christopher Wehkamp as Rokusuke Koenji
  • Dallas Reid as Yosuke Hirata
  • Bryn Apprill as Kei Karuizawa
  • Matt Shipman as Hideo Sotomura
  • Michelle Rojas as Maya Sato
  • Brittney Karbowski as Chiaki Matsushita
  • Jennifer Alyx as Sae Chabashira

The Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 English dub release date hasn’t been announced yet. Considering the popularity of the series it’s likely to be a Simuldub on Crunchyroll.

In early March 2022, Sony announced that Funimation was being merged into the Crunchyroll streaming app. As such, any previously dubbed episodes should be shifted over. Future projects should also be moved over there.

Based on history, it’s likely that Crunchyroll’s Classroom of the Elite dub release date will be within 3 weeks of the premiere, which could be July 25, 2022.

Classroom Of The Elite manga, light novel series compared to hhe You-Zitsu anime

Author Shougo Kinugasa and illustrator Shunsaku Tomose first began publishing the Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e light novel series back in 2015. Like many light novels with long names, fans have nicknamed the series You-Zitsu or Youkoso Jitsuryoku.

The first light novel series for Classroom Of The Elite ended with Volume 11 on May 25, 2019. There were multiple side stories, including Volumes 4.5, 7.5, and 11.5, so the entire story was technically 14 volumes. Volume 8 was actually delayed by a month due to a hand injury to the author.

Starting in January 2020, the author began releasing the Classroom Of The Elite: Year 2 light novel series which, as the name implies, was a direct Classroom Of The Elite sequel.

Starting in January 2016, the Classroom Of The Elite light novel series was adapted into a Youkoso Jitsuryoku manga series. Written by Syohgo Kinugasa and illustrated by Yuyu Ichino, the manga adaptation is up to Volume 11 of June 2021. The Classroom Of The Elite: Year 2 manga began serializing on December 25, 2021.

Unfortunately, an official English translation of Classroom Of The Elite took many years to be licensed by North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment. Started in 2019, the English books will not finish Year 1 until June 28, 2022, when the English Volume 11.5 releases.

The official Classroom Of The Elite: Year 2 English translation didn’t begin releasing until July 19, 2022.

The English Classroom Of The Elite manga began releasing on February 22, 2022.

Did Classroom Of The Elite Season 1 break the canon continuity?

Anime adaptations of light novels and manga are infamous for burning through the available source material at a rapid-fire pace. In the worst case scenario, entire books will be summarized in a single episode, which is what happened with Knight’s & Magic Season 1 and Log Horizon Season 2.

In contrast, the Classroom Of The Elite anime was reasonably paced. Light novel fans believe that the anime covered most of the important events. There was some filler content since Episode 7 seemed designed to provide fan service, but the story was loosely based on a side story from Volume 4.5.

The issue with Episode 7 is that the anime version changed significant characterization details from the light novel (please see the spoilers section below for a detailed explanation). While some believe the anime’s first season broke the continuity of the series, certain scenes involving Kei will have the same amount of context considering that Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 will start adapting Volume 4.

The one major change in the anime that stood out was how the characterization was handled for Kiyotaka Ayanokouji. The manga version of this character was much more expressive and it could be said the light novel version was comedic in some ways.

Some fans preferred the anime version since he’s more aloof and his skills are slowly revealed. In every version, he’s not a pathetic everyman with no special features, but in the manga and light novels, inner monologues also revealed more of the character’s motivations in comparison to the anime.

Regardless of these differences, the ending of Classroom Of The Elite Episode 12 corresponded to Volume 3, although Episode 8 partially used some scenes from Volume 4.

The good news is that the light novel now has more than enough source material for producing Classroom Of  The Elite Season 2. The continuation needed to be multiple cours with 26 episodes (or more) in order to adapt the remainder of Year 1.

Assuming that Youkoso Jitsuryoku Season 2 is only a single cour with around 13 episodes, then Volume 7 is probably the best stopping point in the story.

Classroom Of The Elite Anime Characters
The main Classroom Of The Elite Anime characters from the anime. Pic credit: Studio Lerche

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Season 2 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)

At the end of the first season, Ayanokoji quietly orchestrated events so that Class D would unexpectedly come out on top during the survival test on the deserted island. He even fooled Class A and C into guessing the wrong leader for Class D by changing their leadership when Horikita Suzune became sick. Class A and C had conspired to work together, but their attempts at pushing the other classes down only caused them both to drop to the bottom rankings.

Assuming that Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 follows Volume 4, the next stage shifts the group battles back on to the cruise ship. But this time all of the students are divided by zodiac signs into 12 groups. Instead of survival, this new test challenges their brains and each group must figure out who the VIP is in the other groups. While the test disrupted the competition between classes, the elites realized the goal of the exam and begin their machinations to manipulate the outcome.

It’s a giant question mark for whether or not studio Lerche will choose to adapt Volume 4.5. Technically, they already covered the swimming pool scene, but the characterization was completely different. Therefore, it would make sense to adapt the light novel’s character interactions but use a different setting.

The reason that the intent of Volume 4.5 must be adapted is because the anime diverged greatly from the light novels when it came to Ayanokoji’s relationship with his female classmates. In the anime, blonde-haired Kei Karuizawa was the “girlfriend” to student class representative Yosuke Hirata, but she only maintained the relationship as a pretense to avoid bullying. However, in the original story, Karuizawa began to develop feelings for Ayanokoji.

Essentially, Karuizawa was replaced with Horikita during the swimming pool scene. The cringe-inducing speech by Horikita was also anime original content. In both versions, the boys did attempt to spy on the girls changing room, but the method involved was very different. In the light novels, Ayanokouji told Karuizawa that the guys had planted a remote control car in the air ducts near the changing room, so Karuizawa changed out the camera’s memory cards.

Afterward, Ayanokouji invited Karuizawa to go swimming and that’s when a crucial development for character progression takes place. The girl is curious whether Ayanokouji is faking his personality or if he’s really sincere in his actions. She also opens up about her own history at other schools where she was bullied and no one intervened. In response to this revelation, Ayanokouji tells Karuizawa that he would help her if anyone dared to cause her harm.

Surprisingly, Ayanokouji relaxes enough to admit to some of his own future plans, including his plot to manipulate students into being expelled during the upcoming exams. However, when she asks him about his past, he clams up and claims there is nothing special in his history. In response, she calls him out as a liar and claims his blank expression gives him the look of a killer, which he laughs off as being too dramatic. Although the two are treading deep waters, the overall scene was light-hearted since Ayanokouji does something at the end to make her smile.

So far, studio Lerche seems to be setting up Horikita as a romantic interest, but if they stick to that plan the plot and character development from the light novels would have to be revised extensively. It is possible the anime production committee will retcon that decision, but it would not make sense for the anime to have another swimming pool scene.

Instead, it is possible that Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 could maintain the continuity by setting the stage for Karuizawa and Ayanokoji’s relationship in a different manner, but it’s important that Ayanokoji promises to protect her since that promise becomes relevant beginning in Volume 6.

Classroom Of The Elite Light Novel Kiyotaka Ayanokoji And Kei Karuizawa
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Kei Karuizawa begin to develop a relationship starting in light novel Volume 4. Pic credit: Shunsaku Tomose

The next part of the story shifts to a sports festival that’s set at the end of their summer vacation. Class D and A are combined together against Class B and C to make things interesting. Ken Sudou becomes a critical figure for Class D since he’s so athletic, but he’s also a troublemaker.

When Ayanokoji entered the Advanced Nurturing High School, he hid his high intellect by purposefully only answering 50 percent of the entrance test questions correctly. But he’s also trying to blend into the background by hiding his true strength, although it’s obvious he has martial arts skills. The sports festival ends up being trouble for Ayanokoji since he can’t help but reveal some of his abilities.

Individual events during the sports festival are determined by measuring grip strength. Sudou accidentally fools Ayanokoji into revealing his true abilities by suggesting that the average grip strength is 60 kilograms instead of a more realistic mid-30s. Ayanokoji does not doublecheck Sudou’s number with anyone else and he ends up lamenting this mistake when he adjusts his grip result yet still ranks second only to Sudou.

What’s more, Student Council President Manabu, who is a monster physically, manages to goad Ayanokoji into a race during the class relays after the latter student replaced someone who sprained his ankle. The resulting conversation causes Ayanokoji to challenge Manabu to a duel on the race track. Everyone is shocked when both students begin overtaking everyone.

Classroom Of The Elite Sakayagi Alice Light Volume 5
This mysterious young woman knows about the main character’s past. Pic credit: Shunsaku Tomose

Volume 5 is also when the mysterious character Sakayanagi “Alice” Arisu is introduced in the light novel series, although she showed up in the anime all the way back in Episode 2 as a class representative for Class 1-A.

During the deserted island test, Arisu remained on the cruise ship due to a congenital heart defect that requires her to sometimes walk with a cane. Arisu is the only character who knows Ayanokoji’s true past since he saved her life eight years ago, but he has completely forgotten about her since he suffers amnesia.

Arisu strikes to the core of Ayanokoji’s motivations for hiding his true capabilities. He was raised in a so-called White Room to be the perfect creation and he was the only child to survive the special training. His father, Professor Ayanokoji, wants his son to withdraw from the school because he believes the young man will one day rule Japan.

Ayanokoji despises his father for his role in the White Room, and so in order to spite his father, he purposefully downplays himself while trying to stay in the school. Arisu knows that the professor will be hurt by seeing his perfect creation being beaten, so she’s trying to repay the younger Ayanokoji by defeating him publicly.

Volume 6 is probably where Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 will find an ending, especially since the second season will be adapting four books instead of three because of Volume 4.5. This book is where the romance angle really begins to take shape.

Classroom Of The Elite Light Novel Kei Karuizawa
Will Kei Karuizawa be the first person to melt Ayanokoji’s cold heart? Pic credit: Shunsaku Tomose

Ayanokoji suddenly finds himself popular with the ladies after all of his showmanship during the sports festival. Classmates begin confessing their love to him. Maya Satou tries exchanging cell phone numbers and starts flirting with him, which causes Kei Karuizawa to become jealous.

Regardless, Karuizawa develops their relationship by celebrating his birthday (he does the same in return) and calling him by his first name, Kiyotaka. While Ayanokoji’s calculating mind considers her an efficient pawn, it’s obvious his cold heart is melting slowly because her usefulness to him is secondary to her being by his side.

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Relationships
The relationships will get complicated in the second season. Pic credit: Shunsaku Tomose

But the true heart of Volume 6 is still about the cold and calculating game of classroom dominance. The special exams are so complicated that students drop out every year and Ayanokoji is planning to manipulate the outcome.

Unfortunately, anime fans will either need to wait until the Classroom Of The Elite Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x